NITTO ATP FINALS

November 20, 2021

Daniil Medvedev

Pala Alpitour, Torino

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/C. Ruud

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Would you like to comment on the match. Was the backhand a key today?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: When you play somebody like Casper, you know that his biggest weapon is forehand. I think that's not a surprise. Everybody knows it on tour.

Of course, the more you touch his backhand, the better. That's where he's smart and good. He tries to turn around, go down the line to open his forehand side, which is normal.

Yeah, of course, the plan was to try to get to his backhand, but also try to make it deep, low, strong, to not let him, yeah, try to get the next shot on the forehand.

Q. We don't know who you're going to be playing tomorrow. Can you separate the two, if it was Novak, then separately look ahead to if it was Sascha.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, Sascha, we just played few days ago. Tough to say anything special. Big serve, big shots. Quite the same forehand, backhand. Yeah, it's the same for Novak.

All-around player. Runs well. He hits well if he has a ball -- an easy ball to play. Yeah, complete player. Knows how to do everything. Great serve, great returner.

Same about Novak. Not much to add. I don't know if he's going to say the same, but what I see this year, I think his serve is probably the best he's had throughout all his career. I think I even saw that the numbers prove it, but I'm not sure. I don't really look too much into it.

That's what you feel when you play against him. His serve is pretty huge, if we can say like this. Not 230 kilometers, but it's really precise, a lot of I want to say intensity on it, a lot of spark on it.

Yeah, we know he's one of the best returners in the world. He can run amazing. He can defend amazing. At the same time, for example, he did good in Paris. He was pretty aggressive when he needed to. That's where maybe I should have had more attention to what he was doing.

Definitely no matter who I'm going to play, both of them going to try to prepare to play against me because we just played. Same for me. I'm going to try to think what should I do differently, what should I try to propose them that maybe they're not aware of. It's definitely going to be the game of mine also.

Q. In the post match interview, you said Casper is one of the smartest guys on tour. Can you explain more what you mean about that.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think that's what I kind of saw also, this tournament especially. I don't really watch tennis too much, only when I'm in the tournament and there is a big match in the evening or something like this. Casper didn't play yet. Cincinnati, US Open he didn't play at this time. I didn't watch too much of his game. But I saw that the results were coming up.

Here I watched against Cameron and Andrey. Both of the matches he lost pretty easy the first set, if I can say this. I saw that he was changing up the rhythm, the tactics. He was trying to play differently, trying to think differently. That's just great to see because it's never easy when you lose 6-1 or 6-2 the first set, to come back. That's why many times we see the matches where it's one-sided.

I was ready for it today. Again, I think he was playing pretty smart against me. He was trying to do things to disturb me. I was ready for it. I managed to have the answer for his shots.

Also, yeah, when he won these titles on clay, during Olympic Games, everybody was talking a little bit, Great, clay court player, but what he's going to do on hard courts? Yeah, he's doing pretty good. That's why I think it's great to see him in this level.

Q. After the stunning match against Jannik, you said you asked for a risotto. Did you look for another dish today to celebrate? What do you like of Italian cuisine here.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, after the match I think the most important is to have some protein and carbs, if I say it right in English. So, yeah, basically pasta with any type of meat or rice with any type of meat is good. I try to mix it up because it's almost impossible to eat the same thing for a week.

Yeah, to be honest, I like all the let's say deep fried or whatever, not really Italian, but anything that is not that healthy. Like everybody, I like to taste it. During the tournament I try to keep it quite strict.

But before the tournament when I had a few days before matches, I definitely had a few tiramisus and panna cottas. In Italy, I think I never ate a bad one, so that's always good.

Q. It was confirmed overnight that players will have to be vaccinated to play in the Australian Open. I guess that's not a surprise for anyone. What are your thoughts?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I actually am a little bit surprised that they confirmed it so late, let's say. It's been months. At least I knew that's probably the case. Prime minister or the governor of the state of Melbourne, I don't know I don't remember exactly who said it, but it was kind of official. I was surprised to see this news because I was like, Yeah, what's new?

Q. If you're to play Novak tomorrow, do you expect him to go to the net as much as he did in Paris? Without revealing any secrets, what should you do differently than Paris?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think first of all it's tough to say. That worked really well for him, to go to the net, in Paris. He won a lot of points. I think that's what he usually, if I remember this right, always tried to do against me.

The thing is when you ask what should I do better, I should pass better. That's what I didn't manage to do in Paris. My passing shots were not precise enough or strong enough. He had the volleys where he could do anything with the ball. That's where he's one of the strongest. Many players, if you give them the volley to play, they not going to be able to finish it, and you have the second passing shot. With Novak, give him easy ball, you need to be ready the point going to go his way.

I think, yeah, he's definitely going to go again to the net because -- not only against me, but I see him going to the net a lot lately. Yeah, I need to definitely make a better passing shots.

Q. The other day Casper was praising your game, was saying there are a lot of shots that he sees you hit and he thinks there's no way you're going to pull them off. In the first set there were a few awkward-looking volleys that you got and won the point. Do you ever surprise yourself in a match with the kind of stuff you're able to do?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It can happen when you hit either a crazy shot or... Yeah, it happens. You just run for the ball and you think, Well, that's how it always was, I just try to put it back in. Of course, if you have an easy ball, I try to make a winner. If you're running somewhere like crazy through the whole court, you just try to put it in, not really thinking any more of how, where and why.

Yeah, I remember very well one moment, it was against Gaston in Paris, he was up 5-4, 40-Love, he served down the T. I was expecting the serve wide. I was late on the ball. I a hundred percent thought it's going to be an ace, so I just - how you say - kind of threw my racquet there with the hand just to try. That's the only thing.

Suddenly the ball was in because I managed to do it. I was really surprised. Then I won the point and I won the set, which is amazing.

Yeah, so sometimes it happens. If the ball is behind me, I kind of like the shots in practice, try to get it back. Sometimes I think that surprises the opponent. That's definitely part of my game where, yeah, I'm trying also to be good at it because I see that many times it's going to surprise my opponent.